Hertford Town Football Club is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

, Hertfordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Hertingfordbury Park.

History

The club was established in 1901 as Port Vale Rovers,Hertford Town
Pyramid Passion but were soon renamed Hertford Football Club to gain recognition as the town's main club.History
Hertford Town F.C. Following a merger with Hertford United, the club was renamed Hertford Town. After absorbing two more clubs – Blue Cross and Horns – in 1908,Blakeman, M (2010) ''The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume II'' the club joined the Eastern Division of the

Hertfordshire Senior County League The Hertfordshire Senior County League is a football competition based in Hertfordshire, England. Founded in 1898, there are currently two divisions at senior level and two divisions at reserve and development level. Sitting at step 7 of the Nat ...

for the 1908–09 season, which saw them finish as runners-up.Hertfordshire County League 1898–1927
Non-League Matters League reorganisation in 1909 saw Hertford placed in the Central Division. They finished bottom of the division in its first season, before they were moved back into the Eastern Division in 1910. The club was also playing in the East Herts League, which they won in 1912–13. The following season saw the club retain the East Herts League title and finish second in the Eastern Division of the Hertfordshire Senior County League. After switching to the Middlesex League for the 1920–21 season, the club joined Division One of the

Spartan League The Spartan League was a football league in England covering London and adjacent counties. Established in 1907, it merged with the South Midlands League in 1997 to form the Spartan South Midlands League. History The Spartan League was establish ...

in 1921.Spartan League 1907–1934
Non-League Matters Following league reorganisation in 1928, Hertford were placed in Division One East, with an eleventh-place finish seeing them moved to Division One the following season when a Premier Division was created. In 1938–39 Hertford were Division One runners-up and promoted to the Premier Division. However, the following season was abandoned due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and when the league restarted in 1945, Hertford were placed in the Central Division, finishing bottom of the table in the 1945–46 season.Spartan League 1934–1955
Non-League Matters Despite their poor performance, the club were placed in the Premier Division the following season, but went on to finish bottom of the table again. The club lost the use of its ground in 1947 and left the league for a season before returning to the Spartan League in 1948, when they were placed in Division One East. After winning the division in 1949–50,Honours
Hertford Town F.C. they were promoted back to the Premier Division in 1950 and were runners-up in 1955–56 and 1956–57. In 1959 Hertford transferred to the Delphian League and were runners-up in their first season. They went on to win back-to-back league titles in 1960–61 and 1961–62. The 1962–63 season was abandoned due to bad weather, but Hertford won both the League Cup and the Eastern Section of the emergency competition, going on to lose the title decider to Western Section Champions

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

5–2 on aggregate. They also won the East Anglian Cup by beating

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

1–0 in the final, a match played at home in front of a 3,000 crowd. When the Delphian League was disbanded at the end of the season, Hertford joined the new Division Two of the Athenian League alongside most of the other former Delphian League clubs. A fourth-place finish in 1963–64 was enough to earn promotion to Division One at the first attempt and the club went on to win the league's Memorial Shield in 1967–68. Hertford switched to the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

in 1972. They won the league cup and finished third in the league in their first season, but left to join the newly-formed Division Two of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

. The division was renamed Division One in 1977, and the club were relegated to Division Two North after finishing bottom of the table in 1984–85. League restructuring in 1991 saw the club placed in Division Three. They were promoted to Division Two after finishing runners-up in 1998–99, but were relegated the following season. Further league restructuring saw Hertford placed in Division One North in 2002, but they finished bottom of the table in the division's inaugural season and were relegated to Division Two. After the division was disbanded in 2006, they joined the Premier Division of the

Spartan South Midlands League The Spartan South Midlands Football League is an English football league covering Hertfordshire, northwest Greater London, central Buckinghamshire and southern Bedfordshire. It is a feeder to the Southern Football League or the Isthmian League, ...

. The club were Premier Division runners-up in 2016–17 and were promoted to Division One North of the Isthmian League after London Colney turned down promotion.Hertford Town to play in Ryman League after London Colney turn down promotion
Hertfordshire Mercury, 7 June 2017 At the end of the 2020–21 season, which was curtailed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, they were transferred to Division One Central of the Southern League.

Ground

The club initially played at Hartham Park, but when Blue Cross were absorbed in 1908, they moved to Blue Cross' Hertingfordbury Park. A covered terrace was erected on one side of the pitch in 1950. Although it was extended the following year, when a covered terrace was also built at the car park end of the ground,Peter Miles (1997) ''The Non-League Football Grounds of Hertfordshire'', p11 it was later demolished. The 200-seat main stand was built in 1959, replacing an earlier stand that burnt down in 1946. Floodlights were installed in 1956 and upgraded in 1965. The ground currently has a capacity of 6,500, of which 200 is seated and 1,500 covered.

Honours

*Spartan League **Division One Eastern Section champions 1949–50 *Athenian League **Memorial Shield winners 1967–68 *Delphian League **Champions 1960–61, 1961–62 **Eastern Division champions 1962–63 **League Cup winners 1962–63 *Eastern Counties League **League Cup winners 1972–73 *East Herts League **Champions 1912–13, 1913–14 *

Herts Senior Cup The Herts Senior Cup, officially titled the Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, is the oldest County-based football Cup competition based exclusively in Hertfordshire, England. It was first contested in the 1886-87 se ...

**Winners 1966–67, 1989–90 *East Anglian Cup **Winners 1962–63, 1969–70 *Mithras Cup **Winners 1978–79 *

Herts Charity Cup The Herts Charity Cup, officially titled the Hertfordshire Football Association Charity Cup, was begun in the 1900-01 season as a fund raising competition for the chosen charities of the Hertfordshire County Football Association. It is second o ...

**Winners 1972–73 *Herts Charity Shield **Winners 1919–20,. 1920–21, 1935–36, 1949–50, 1959–60, 2014–15

Records

*Best

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

performance: Fourth qualifying round, 1973–74 *Best

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

performance: Second round, 1979–80 *Best

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

performance: Third round, 1986–87, 2003–04, 2012–13, 2015–16 *Record attendance: 5,000 vs

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

, FA Amateur Cup second round, 1955–56 *Most appearances: Robbie Burns

References

External links